We’ve discussed the parts of a stylus.  But what do the various parts do?

As I noted, all standard styluses are basically composed of two parts: a metal wax reservoir with writing tip, and a handle (generally wooden or plastic).  In the traditional styluses, the reservoir is attached to the handle either by wrapping with wire, or with a wire hook.  In the electric styluses, the reservoir is set into the heating element, which is the upper extension of the handle.

(Non-standard styluses–calligraphic pens and drop-pull styluses–will be discussed in depth separately on their own pages.)

Reservoir/Writing Tip: since a stylus is simply an instrument for writing with wax, the reservoir/tip is the business end of it.  The reservoir holds the molten wax; the writing tip allows the wax to flow in a controlled manner from the reservoir, much as ink flows from a pen.  The size of the opening in the tip determines the width of the written wax line.

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